


An Army of the Chosen Dead

by WaywardBlush



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:41:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaywardBlush/pseuds/WaywardBlush
Summary: A collection of stories and drabbles for my Guardians and their fireteams.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	An Army of the Chosen Dead

**Author's Note:**

> When a Titan loses everything she loves, she goes and does something stupid. A one-woman assault on the Hellmouth, except something is very, very wrong.
> 
> (This was originally written in November 2017, so there's a mix of D1 and D2 mechanics going on.)

“You know,” Helios says as he flies next to her, “this is a bad idea.”

“I know it is.”

Naos’ grip tightens on her rifle. She knows, she just doesn’t care. She’s angry and she needs to let off some steam. And sure maybe going down into the Hellmouth on her own wasn’t the best course of action but she automatically flew herself to Luna. Might as well go big. ‘Cause she wasn’t going home.

Home was empty right now. Duller. What once held so much warmth was so cold.There was no longer a Gunslinger to heat the place. Death was not something she had to think about much, not permanently. For her or the people she loved. 

With the loss of her sun, her star had left as well. Leaving her in the dark for some time now. Naos had held out hope they would return soon. She doesn’t think much of hope these days. So she marches across the grey surface of Luna, leaving boot tracks in the dust.

As the Hellmouth come into view her Ghost speaks up again. “So,” she sees him fly at the edge of her vision. Staying close but looking around for her. “Why are we going down there?”

“I need to punch something.”

He sighs and says, “And you couldn’t just punch a punching bag because…?”

Naos turns her head to look at her Ghost, squints at him when she does. He doesn't see it but she hopes the feeling gets across.

“You know why.”

“Right, yeah. Missing partners, empty home and all that.”

Naos closes her eyes and sighs. Briefly thinks if there’s a refund for Ghosts, then shakes her head and keeps moving.

“And why,” Helios continues, “are we going into a hell pit and, I don’t know, taking a patrol mission or something?”

“I have a vendetta,” it’s a half truth, the Hive took something very important from her once. She had always felt disdain for them but she got her anger out long ago. But now, now she doesn’t trust the Vanguard. If she went to them they’d probably give her a cushy job somewhere where she would sit all day and go out of her mind. No, she needed to hit something, kill _something_.

“You are _the_ most Titaniest Titan I could have picked.”

Naos admits that one brings out a small smile on her face. Her ghost has her back, and knows her more than herself. The pair keep moving, keeping a steady pace.

Helios flies up and around her, doing a full 360° sweep of the area, even flying higher to get a better advantage. He’s right above her when he calls out, “Hey, isn’t there usually Fallen around here?”

She stops where she stands and waits. There’s nothing. No one shooting at her, no Eliksni shouts or curses, not even distant Fallen shapes standing around. She thinks about what it could mean and then what she came here for.

She huffs and keeps walking towards the Hellmouth. 

Helios flies directly in front of her forcing her to stop. “Naos, this is _bad_. Can’t you see that?”

“Yes. I can. I just don’t care Helios.” 

Guardian and Ghost stare each other down. Each waiting for the other to move, to break. But the Titan’s Ghost is a stubborn as the Titan. Eventually, Helios dissipates and his voice comes through her helmet.

“I’m gonna send that info to the Tower. Maybe some _competent_ Guardian will look into it.”

Naos starts walking. Again. She sighs and says, “We’ll look into it when I’m done, okay? No need to go calling in the cavalry. It’s not like they’ll do much anyway.” The last part is mumbled more to herself than her Ghost, the statement itself filled with bitterness.

They get to an opening on the surface, guarded by two ordinary knights. Both are quickly disposed of with bullets to the head. As Naos stands before it Helios’ voice comes through. It’s quiet and seems small. 

“What if you die down there?”

“Then I’ll be dead and no one will know.”

“But what about…?” She knew what he wanted to say. _Who_ he wanted to say. As if their name was taboo now.

“They left,” for the first time, her voice is soft almost sad. “I’m sure whatever Calypso’s doing is important.”

“They never said goodbye.”

Stepping through the opening Naos replies, “No, they didn’t.”

Continuing forward neither Helios or Naos speak as the Guardian mows her way through hordes of thrall that come running at her. She gets to punch some of these ones. It’s easier when there’s only a few at a time. It’s like they never learn.

Going deeper down, she shoots her way past more thrall and acolytes. Using her hand cannon to rid them of life. She kills with it until it’s out of bullets and then switches back to her rifle.

She doesn’t know how long she’s been down there, doesn’t know how many dead Hive she left in her wake when Helios’ voice breaks through to her.

“Why couldn’t we have just looked for them?”

Naos lets out a frustrated sigh and punches a thrall coming at her from her right. Sparks of lightning come from her fist as it makes contact with the thrall’s head. She waits another second to answer.

“It’s hard to look for someone when they don’t want to be found.”

She hears Helios hum in agreement and she knows the subject is dropped. This isn’t the first time Helios has tried to get her to talk, just so happened she’s not much of a talker. Naos moves forward, going even deeper in the Hive fortress. She cuts through Hive after Hive, not thinking, not caring.

It’s not long after that Naos goes to pull the trigger of her rifle, ready to shoot an acolyte that was for some reason running at her when nothing happens. She pulls the trigger a few more times just to make sure.

_Shit._

She quickly changes to her shotgun and blasts the acolyte in its three-eyed face. As it crumbles to dust in front of her she swears very loudly. 

“Rifle out of ammo?”

“Yup.”

“Well,” Helios says, “shit.”

She laughs through her nose at that. “My thoughts exactly.”

Helios appears in front of her as she’s replacing the last shell in her shotgun. He goes down and scans the dust. Comes back up and flies around her.

“Okay,” he’s right in front of her, equal height to her helmet. Still she feels like he's looking down at her. “Two of your guns are out of ammo, that’s not a normal acolyte and the Darkness is getting thicker. Can we _please_ leave now?”

Naos stares at him for a moment then side steps around her Ghost and keeps moving forward. Going down deeper into the hive fortress.

She hears Helios make a frustrated noise behind her then his voice is back through her helmet.

“Do you have a death wish or something?”

“Nope,” she pops the p sound. 

“Then why are still down here?”

“I still have my shotgun and my fists,” _and I’m still frustrated_ goes unsaid, but Naos knows it goes through to her Ghost. “We keep moving.”

Helios gives a very annoyed sigh but otherwise stays quiet.

Naos walks down an empty hallway with stairs leading down at the end, when she hears a cry echo from the direction she’s facing. Then the sounds of running reach her ears. It sounds as if hundreds of Hive are coming to meet her.

“That,” Helios says “does not sound good.”

A few seconds later many thrall and acolytes appear at the end of the hallway, top of the stairs, all running, heading towards her. Naos plants her feet, pops a shield in front of her and raises her shotgun. 

The thrall come in fast and subsequently blind themselves as they run through her shield. She punches them, not wanting to waste precious ammo. As her shield collapses she moves forward, blasting thrall and acolyte alike with her shotgun. When she uses up a magazine and a half suddenly the acolytes still left stop shooting at her and turn tail. They run back down the stairs and she’s left in silence.

“That,” Helios injects into the silence “is infinitely worse. _Now_ , would be a really good time to leave.”

Naos ignores her Ghost and pops another shield in preparation of whatever’s coming. Reloads her shotgun and focuses her Light. 

The ground underneath her shakes as something moves close by. She watches behind her shield as the top of a knight’s head becomes visible at the stairs. She watches as it grows, as it makes its way up. For a brief moment she’s scared, the knight in front of her is huge and she’s alone. No one even knows that she’s down here.

The knight stops a few feet away from her. Stares her down as it swings its cleaver around. Naos’ shield drops and she takes off running toward the knight. She jumps up and activates her super, smashes the ground as she lands with Arc energy where the knight stands.

She stands up as the ground pulsates with aftershocks and looks up at the knight. It stands tall and she swears she can feel it grinning at her behind its helm. It brings its weapon up, hitting her with an uppercut and damaging her immensely, cracking her visor and pushing her back. Naos brings up her shotgun and empties the magazine as the knight runs towards her. It doesn’t flinch even a little and Naos curses as the knight swings wide. Its cleaver collides into her left side slamming her against the rough wall of the hallway. Her right shoulder piece gets smashed and falls off.

“Great,” she groans. “We good for another shield?”

“Ready.”

Naos puts up another shield, consequently pinning herself against the wall. She uses the time to reload her shotgun and concentrates on her Light again. The second her shield drops she once again activates her super, once again hitting the ground by the knight with lightning. Once again the knight seems to just shrug it off and lifts its cleaver for another attack. Naos keeps her eyes on the weapon, thinking maybe she can dodge it.

Instead of being hit from the left Naos is captured by the knights left hand. Her back is pushed against the wall and she is dragged up it, lifted up by her head until her feet are dangling. She still holds her shotgun and she lifts it, aiming it right at the knight’s head and empties the magazine. 

The knight shakes its head and squeezes around Naos’ helmet. The crack gets bigger in her visor and eventually it shatters. She feels some of the shards embed themselves into her face, none piecing her eyes or coming close to damaging them thankfully. The knight squeezes harder.

Naos hears a hiss as Helios undoes the clasps of her helmet. She drops to her feet and suddenly the world is no longer a bright green but rather muted browns. She quickly moves out of the knights reach. Then slows, loads the last two shells she has into her shotgun and turns to face the knight. It still has her helmet in its hand and she watches as it lifts it up for her to see, as if it’s showing it off. It closes its fist and the helmet bends and crumples. The sound of it makes her heart sink.

Naos pops another shield, but she notices that it’s already cracking. Standing behind it, she realises her breathing is heavier. She’s pushing herself and her Light to the limits.

“We good for another ground pound?”

“I wish,” Helios’ voice comes through her helmet quieter, his voice a little distorted, “You didn’t call it that but yes. You’re good.”

Naos smirks at the knight, wipes her brow with the back of her hand. She dislodges some of the shards from her visor, it makes the blood flow more freely down her face. She curses slightly at her own mistake and hopes it doesn’t impair her vision.

“Could really use some healing here Helios.”

Her Ghost’s voice is the same as last time, quiet, distorted. She hears it more now she’s focused on him. This time though, Naos can hear a hint of panic in his tone. “I… I can’t. The Darkness is overwhelming. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be fine.” She says the last mostly to convince herself. She’ll be fine.

The knight starts sprinting at her as her shield drops. Once again she jumps into the air and slams the ground when she lands. For the first time, it looks like the knight took some damage and staggers back as it’s trapped in the pulsating wake of Arc damage.

Naos sprints and slides underneath the knight, empties the last two shells into its abdomen. Now behind it, she bashes the back of one of its knees with the stock of her shotgun. It falls and Naos uses this opportunity to climb on top of it. One arm going around its shoulder to hang on. Once the aftershocks from her Fist of Havoc stop the knight stands and turns. Quickly moving against the wall, it rams Naos’ back against it again. She feels her back piece bend inwards. Can feel it puncture the skin. Can feel hot blood leak from it.

Gathering strength and leftover Light, she punches the side of the knight’s head. Sparks fly as her fist makes contact. The knight stumbles away from the wall but reaches behind itself. Once again grabbing a hold of Naos. Though this time it flings her across the hallway. She lands on her back, bounces, flips and lands face down on the floor.

She groans as she pushes herself up, noticing that her chest piece now has a fracture from shoulder to abdomen. More pieces of her armour are broken or missing, scattered around her, and even her under armour is ripped in places. The smell of blood reaches her nose as she stands up and when she looks down at herself she grimaces. She’s not given much time to inspect her wounds before the knight swings at her again. 

This time she manages to dodge the attack and watches as the cleaver embeds itself in the ground where she just was. Naos curses in her head and then runs at the knight again. Without any weapons left, she uses both hands to punch. She centers her blows on the area on its abdomen that she shot earlier. As her punches connect she watches cracks form in the knight's armour.

She feels the knight grab her back and pull, sending her flying backwards. She skids across the floor on her back, scuffing up what remains of her armour. The bent back piece digs into the already bleeding wound and it hurts like hell. She feels the exposed under armour rip and tear, and then new cuts opening up on her body. 

Naos grits her teeth and tries not to think of the pain. Tries not to think about the number of wounds she has. She takes a shaky breath in, and winces, she thinks a few ribs are broken. It wouldn’t surprise her if there was some internal bleeding.

As she stands on shaking legs, Helios’ question echoes in her head. _What if you die down there?_

The Titan looks up at the knight, notices it’s no longer spinning its cleaver around. Not showing off anymore. Naos hopes she did a considerable amount of damage to it. Hopes it’s almost dead. 

She hears a guttural noise come from the knight and then it charges at her again, if she were to guess she would say it’s pissed. Naos moves as quickly as she can out of the way, delivering two more punches as the knight passes her. It digs its cleaver into the ground ripping it up as it slows down. By the time the knight stops, the cleaver looks absolutely stuck in the ground.

The knight runs at her again sans cleaver. Naos plants her feet, a sense of déjà vu washes over her, and raises her fists, if this turns into a boxing match she plans on winning. The knight swings wide and she’s able to duck under it. Delivering two more hits into its abdomen.

In theory, she has the advantage here. She just has to hold out, hold out until the knight is dead. Has to keep a focus on what she’s doing. The pain can come later.

After a few more of the same tactics, the knight making swings for her and herself continuing to hit that one area, the knight falls. Naos feels nothing except the exhaustion and the pain from her wounds.

Helios appears in front of her and she sees he’s shaking. When he speaks the distorted nature is more pronounced. “We need to go. You’re very heavily injured.”

Naos goes to laugh, instead she doubles over coughing, ending in her coughing up blood. She spits some blood mixed with spit at the feet of the knight. 

“Okay, we’re leaving.”

As Naos starts slowly walking by the knight, she hears a cry go out behind her. She stops and half-turns, looking at Helios beside her.

“Remember those acolytes that ran away before, do you think _they_ called the cavalry?”

Helios looks to the stairs, then to his Guardian and then back to the stairs. “You need to run. You need to run _now_ Naos.”

Naos goes to start running, realises that it hurts too much so she moves as fast as she can. Unfortunately it’s not fast enough. She gets shot multiple times. Each shot stings and bleeds but she keeps moving, she has little to no way to fight back. She hopes she can make it to her ship, at the very least to the surface.

After some time, she’s not sure how long, the Hive sounds that have followed her thus far are no more. She keeps moving. Moving past the death and destruction that she created earlier in her fit of anger and frustration. Moving despite the pain, despite the exhaustion, and despite the darkness that’s closing in.

Eventually she sees the opening that she walked through; she doesn't know how long she spent down there but she is glad to see an end. Shuffling towards it she barely makes it out onto the surface of Luna. The mantra in her head changes, from _get to the surface_ to _get the ship_. 

Retracing boot marks in the dust and messing them up, Naos slowly continues. Making it to the top of the Hellmouth she stumbles, once, twice, and then her legs give out. She thinks it had to happen eventually. Rolling on to her back she looks up at the stars and thanks the Traveler for whatever weird shit is going on on Luna. Naos breathes shakily, in and out, in and out. 

The dark at the edges of her vision close in and she so desperately wants to sleep. She thinks she can afford it here, lying on her back on Luna's surface. As her eyes close she thinks her name is being called but whoever is calling seem so distant, so far away. She will answer them when she wakes up.

**Author's Note:**

> All hits, kudos, and comments are greatly appreciated!! <3  
> Check out my Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/wereprechaun)! I mostly post about video games!!


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